CHARLES  BROOKS  and  his 

Work /or  Normal  Schools 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

University  of  California. 


GIF'T  OF" 


.oiW^ 

Class 


WITH    THE    OOMPLXMBITTS    OK 

John  Albree 

SWAMPSOOTT,   MASSACH17SBTTS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/charlesbrookshisOOalbrrich 


Rev.    CHARLES    BROOKS  (1795-1872), 
Pastor  of  Third  Parish,  Hingham. 

Painting  by  Frothingham,  1825,  in  possession  of  the  Medford  Historical  Society. 


CHARLES  BROOKS 


And  His  Work  for  Normal  Schools 


BY 
JOHN    ALBREE 


Read  before  the  Medford  Historical  Society 
May  ffth^  igo6 


Press  of  J.  C.  Miller,  Jr. 

MsDFORD,  Mass. 

1907 


0,^ 


\ 


Copyright,  1907 
By  JOHN  ALBREE 


A  WORD  seems  needed  to  justify  printing  a  paper  relating  to 
a  work  which  was  completed  seventy  years  ago.  Charles 
Brooks  himself  showed  a  singular  reticence  about  his  labors,  the 
reason  for  which  has  not  clearly  appeared.*  Consequently,  among 
his  Medford  friends  and  neighbors.  Brooks'  part  in  the  educational 
revival  was  not  understood,  and  with  the  lapse  of  time  such  ideas 
as  did  exist,  became  vague.  To  set  forth  the  facts  therefore  this 
paper  was  prepared  and  read  before  a  company  of  Medford  people, 
some  of  whom  as  children  had  known  Mr.  Brooks,  and  on  their 
request  it  is  now  submitted  to  a  wider  circle. 

JOHN  ALBREE. 
SwAMPScoTT,  Massachusetts, 
January  i,  1907. 


*  Brooks'  Medford,  p,  285. 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  "HISTORICAL  REGISTER." 
VOL.  X,  No.  I,  JANUARY.  1907,  PUBLISHED  BY 
THE  MEDFORD  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


CHARLES  BROOKS  and  his 

Work  for  Normal  Schools 


By  way  of  prelude  let  me  ask  if  the  traditions  will  be  violated 
if  a  text  is  chosen,  especially  if  it  is  agreed  that  the  text  will  not 
again  be  referred  to  ?  This  is  necessary  by  reason  of  the  comments 
that  have  been  made  by  some  on  learning  that  a  paper  was  in  prepa- 
ration on  ^'  Charles  Brooks  and  His  Work  for  Normal  Schools.'* 
These  comments,  more  or  less  diplomatic  and  guarded,  have  been  to 
the  effect  that  the  name  of  Horace  Mann  ought  to  appear  in  the  title. 

The  text  is  *'  One  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory." 

ON  a  summer  afternoon,  how  many  years  ago  is  not 
material,  a  baby  was  a  member  of  a  little  party 
that  called  at  the  home  of  the  Brooks  family  in  Medford, 
a  home  that  by  reason  of  its  furnishings  and  surround- 
ings was  entitled  to  be  called  the  Brooks  Mansion. 
Nothing  could  have  been  further  from  the  minds  of  that 
household  than  that  in  the  future  that  baby,  when  grown 
to  manhood,  was  to  stand  before  a  Medford  audience 
of  Medford  people  and  submit  for  consideration  a 
paper  on  their  "  Brother  Charles,"  for  that  was  the  way 
he  was  always  addressed,  in  the  delightfully  formal 
manner  characteristic  of  their  home  life.  Furthermore, 
that  in  such  a  paper  it  would  be  assumed  at  the  out- 
set that  neither  Charles  Brooks  nor  his  work  would 
then  be  known  in  Medford,  their  Medford,  and  that  the 
time  would  then  have  arrived  when  they,  both  brothers 
and  sisters,  would  well  nigh  have  passed  from  the  memory 
of  living  men. 

At  times  it  seems  to  have  come  over  Charles  Brooks 
that  perhaps  his  three  years  of  hard,  though  ultimately 
successful  work  might  not  have  secured  a  firm  place  in 


6      CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL    SCHOOLS 

history.  In  1845,  we  find  that  in  a  letter  giving  an 
account  of  his  labors  he  tried  to  forecast  the  future. 
He  indulged  in  a  little  fancy  and  said,  "  Some  educa- 
tional antiquary,  in  his  pardonable  weakness,  may  show 
my  lectures  fifty  years  hence  as  they  sometimes  show 
old  cannon."*  And  tonight  the  thought  of  sixty  years 
ago  becomes  a  fact.  While  perhaps  the  title  of  "  educa- 
tional antiquary  "  hardly  applies  to  your  essayist,  it  will 
be  assumed  and  the  results  of  the  delving  recounted. 
Fortunately  a  valuable  clew  to  the  situation  was  found, 
and  through  the  thoughtfulness  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Warner 
Brooks  important,  original  material,  a  scrap-book,  of 
Brooks'  was  found.  Without  this  book,  so  carefully 
prepared,  this  paper  must  have  been  based  on  evidence 
at  second  hand  and  of  doubtful  authenticity.  As  it  is, 
we  are  able  to  hear  Charles  Brooks'  own  words,  and 
to  examine  cotemporary  evidence  in  support  of  his 
statements. 

When  the  educational  revival  had  been  in  progress 
for  twenty-five  years,  and  teachers  and  educators  had 
appreciated  the  magnificence  of  the  undertaking,  it 
seemed  to  them  to  be  well  to  hold  a  meeting  at  which 
the  historical  features  might  be  treated.  It  was  to  this 
meeting  that  Charles  Brooks  was  invited.  The  record 
of  the  meeting  is  most  valuable,  for  here  we  find  at  first 
hand  the  stories  of  those  concerned,  and  the  particular 
work  of  each  is  described. 

The  invitation  Brooks  received  was  from  the  com- 
mittee, that  he  attend  "  The  Quarter  Centennial  Normal 
School  Celebration  at  Framingham,  July  i,  1864."  The 
secretary,  George  N.  Bigelow,  added  a  few  lines  to  the 
printed  form  which  are  suggestive. 

*'  It  seems  best  that  we  should  hear  from  your  own  lips  some- 
thing of  the  work  that  you  did  in  the  establishing  of  Normal 
Schools.  ...  I  am  sorry  that  I  was  so  ignorant  of  your  great 
labors  in  this  work  of  Normal  Schools.  But  then,  when  you  were 
so  gloriously  engaged,  I  was  just  entering  my  teens,  and  what 
should  a  mere  boy  be  expected  to  know  of  what  you  have  so  long 
kept  in  silence  for  the  sake  of  your  children  ?  " 

♦Old  Colony  Memorial  Newspaper,  Plymouth.     October  4, 1845. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL    SCHOOLS.  7 

Brooks  accepted  the  invitation  and  made  an  address 
in  which  he  reviewed  his  work.*  This  review  will  be 
considered  later  in  its  course,  but  it  is  referred  to  at  this 
time  because  it  shows  that,  in  using  the  scrap-book  in 
the  compilation  of  this  paper,  we  are  doing  what  Brooks 
expected  would  be  done  at  some  time.  Picture  to  your- 
selves, therefore,  this  slightly  built,  elderly  man,  with  a 
winning  smile  and  charming  manner,  standing  before 
that  audience  over  twoscore  of  years  ago  and  beginning 
his  address  with  these  words,  for  they  show  how  he  felt, 
and  they  corroborate  a  statement  in  the  Bigelow  letter 
about  his  keeping  silence :  — 

'*Mr.  President:  I  am  called  to  a  position  which  I  have  tried 
to  avoid.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  kept  a  pro- 
found silence  concerning  my  connection  with  the  introduction  of 
the  present  system  of  State  Normal  Schools  in  New  England,  and 
should  have  kept  silence  to  the  end,  had  not  this  noble,  patriotic, 
and  Christian  celebration  induced  some  friends  to  tempt  me  to 
break  that  silence,  averring  it  injustice  to  withhold  the  facts. 

"  It  happens  that  I  alone  possess  all  the  historical  documents, 
and  I  have  used  them  in  writing  a  history  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  pages  concerning  the  public  movements  in  1835  to  1838, 
not  for  publication,  but  as  a  legacy  to  my  children.  I  have  care- 
fully preserved  in  one  large  quarto  volume  all  the  manuscript,  doc- 
umentary evidence,  and  in  a  folio,  all  the  printed  evidence  of  the 
facts  I  have  stated,  carefully  noting  dates  and  places. 

''Now  can  you  imagine  anything  more  ridiculous  and  contra- 
dictory than  for  a  living"  man  to  stand  up  here  and  read  his  post- 
humous histories  ?  Has  God  opened  a  seam  in  the  dark  cloud  of 
the  grave  that  he  may  send  one  ray  of  light  to  increase  the  full- 
orbed  joy  of  this  sacred  occasion  ?  " 

You  note  that  he  mentions  three  books  he  prepared, 
but  of  them  only  one,  the  last  mentioned,  has  come  to 
light.  The  manuscript  history  and  the  volume  of  man- 
uscript documentary  evidence  have  eluded  discovery, 
but  the  folio  of  the  printed  evidence,  with  dates  and 
places  carefully  noted,  is  before  you. 

He  began  the  book  as  a  "Common  place  Book,"  using 

♦History  of  Missionary  Agency  of  the  State  Normal  Schools  of  Prussia  in  Massachusetts  in 
1835-6-7  and  8.  Read  at  the  Quarter  Centennial  Normal  School  Celebration  in  Framingham,  Mas- 
sachusetts, July  I,  1864,  by  Rev.  Charles  Brooks,  Medford.  Boston  Evening  Transcript,  July 
13,1864.     Also,  printed  by  request:  not  published.     Boston,  John  Wilson  &  Son,  1864. 


8      CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

it  for  sundry  scraps  and  clippings.  Later,  some  of  these 
earlier  scraps  were  covered  with  others  of  later  date.  In 
addition,  there  is  the  usual  miscellaneous  assortment  of 
scraps  having  no  connection  with  each  other.  What- 
ever he  wrote  that  had  appeared  in  the  papers  he  has 
preserved,  also,  any  mention  of  him  was  duly  clipped 
and  inserted. 

There  are  some  family  scraps,  tax  bills,  etc.  Here  is 
a  bill  rendered  his  great  great  grandfather,Cochran  Reeve, 
in  1738,  for  expenses  on  account  of  a  slave.  The  items 
are  specified  as  freight,  nursing,  and  a  coffin.  The  jail- 
ors's  bill  had  not  been  received,  so  that  could  not  be 
included.  But  for  our  present  purpose  we  find  many 
clippings  which  will  be  referred  to  from  time  to  time. 

It  is  a  strange  sensation  to  study,  not  to  glance  has- 
tily, but  to  study  a  scrap-book,  especially  such  a  personal 
one  as  this.  In  our  own  experience  we  find  ourselves 
at  times  perplexed  as  to  why  we  preserved  some  clip- 
ping. It  was  probably  Brooks'  experience  as  well.  And 
yet,  after  reading  what  he  said  about  the  "  educational 
antiquary,"  one  is  struck  with  these  lines,  pasted  just  be- 
low his  printed  signature  on  a  circular  regarding  the 
Clergyman's  Aid  Society.  It  seems  as  if  he  may  have 
again  been  looking  into  the  future. 

CONSOLING. 
You  '11  be  forgotten  as  old  debts 

By  persons  who  are  used  to  borrow ; 
Forgotten  as  the  sun  that  sets 

When  shines  a  new  one  on  the  morrow. 
Forgotten,  like  the  luscious  peach 

That  blessed  the  school  boy  last  September ; 
Forgotten,  like  a  maiden  speech 

Which  all  men  praise,  but  none  remember. 

.  But  later  he  wrote  these  lines,  when  he  was  in  a  rem- 
iniscent mood,  and  dated  them  1865. 

And  though  some  hopes  I  cherished  once 

Died  most  untimely  in  their  birth, 
Yet  I  have  been  beloved  and  blest 
Beyond  the  measure  of  my  worth. 


^^  OF  THE        ^ 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


CHARLES    BROOKS  (1795-1872), 
At  Eleven  Years.  i8o6. 

Silhouette  by  Kins;,  a  deservedly  famous  silhouettist  of  the  period. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS.  9 

The  question  arose  as  to  how  fully  these  clippings 
represented  the  newspaper  accounts  of  Brooks'  work, 
and  so  it  seemed  well  to  examine  a  file  of  a  cotemporary 
newspaper.  The  Hingham  paper  was  selected,  as  that 
was  the  paper  of  his  town,  and  the  result  showed  that 
Brooks  clipped  and  preserved  in  the  scrap-book  practi- 
cally all  the  references  to  himself  that  appeared  in  the 
paper.  Mr.  Brooks  relied  on  the  press  for  much  help 
during  his  active  work,  but  the  methods  of  that  day 
were  much  different  from  those  of  ours.  There  was 
not  the  appeal  to  the  interest  of  all  classes  and  condi- 
tions of  men ;  the  reading  public  seems  to  have  been 
limited  in  numbers.  But  there  have  been  many  changes 
in  thought  and  life  during  the  seventy  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  Charles  Brooks  was  doing  his  grand  work 
of  bringing  to  the  common  people  of  Massachusetts  a 
remedy  for  their  great  needs,  and  these  changes  must 
be  considered  before  taking  up  directly  what  Brooks 
did. 

For  instance,  in  the  '30s  an  assemblage  of  the  gentle 
sex  was  denominated  a  company  of  females.  To  this 
appellation  some  bright  mind  would  venture  a  protest, 
but  the  custom  was  too  firmly  established  to  be  set 
aside  because  some  lone  "  female  "  objected. 

Again,  suppose  it  were  now  printed  on  a  notice  that 
Harvard  College  sent  to  members  of  a  committee,  an- 
nouncing that  a  meeting  would  be  held,  "  Gentlemen 
will  please  to  select  their  own  method  of  conveyance 
and  charge  the  expense  to  the  University."  Such  a 
note  Mr.  Brooks  received.  When  one  sees  it  he  won- 
ders how  many  different  methods  there  were  for  reach- 
ing Cambridge,  which  was  the  most  used,  and  what  was 
the  expenditure  of  time  and  money. 

Or  again,  what  is  there  in  the  statement,  "  As  is  the 
teacher,  so  is  the  school,"  that  endangers  the  established 
order,  or  that  is  revolutionary  in  its  character?  Any 
man  who  would  now  hesitate  to  subscribe  to  that  state- 
ment, "  As  is  the  teacher,  so  is  the  school,"  would  find 


V*Of  THE  A 

rr-T-»ci-rv    V: 


10    CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL    SCHOOLS. 

it  difficult  to  get  a  hearing  for  his  doubts.  Yet  it  was 
to  impress  this  truth  on  the  thinking  and  acting  minds 
of  his  day  that  Charles  Brooks  gave  unsparingly  of  his 
time,  his  money,  and  his  strength. 

If  it  were  not  for  these  changes  in  thought  and  life, 
it  would  suffice  to  read  the  Framingham  address,  which 
in  1864  Brooks  delivered  on  his  work,  its  methods,  and 
results.  It  is  written  in  his  characteristic  style,  simple, 
frank,  and  attractive,  but  unless  one  can  get  at  the  gen- 
eral thought  of  the  time,  the  difficulties,  the  obstacles, 
the  discouragements,  and  the  triumphs,  the  address,  if 
read  without  comment,  would  serve  to  arouse,  but  not 
to  satisfy,  inquiry.  To  meet  this  inquiry,  to  supply  some 
comment,  and  to  define  Brooks'  part  in  the  great  educa- 
tional revival,  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper. 

If  we  briefly  summarize  what  Mr.  Brooks'  life  had 
been  prior  to  undertaking  this  work,  we  may  be  able 
to  form  a  better  conception  of  his  personality,  for  this 
attractive  personality  was  a  predominating  feature  in 
his  success.  Few  of  those  who  knew  him  now  remain, 
except  such  as  knew  him  in  his  later  years.  It  has 
been  interesting  to  record  the  epithets  these  use  in 
describing  him.  Genial  is  always  the  first,  and  then 
affable,  pleasant,  entertaining,  sympathetic,  industrious, 
are  other  words  used  to  formulate  the  impression  those 
who  knew  him  have  retained  all  these  years.  As  the 
story  of  his  work  is  told,  we  shall  be  able  to  see  reasons 
for  using  words  descriptive  of  deeper,  stronger,  and 
more  abiding  traits  of  character  which  will  be  discerned 
on  a  closer  acquaintance. 

He  was  born  in  the  ancient  house  still  standing  at 
the  corner  of  High  and  Woburn  streets,  October  30, 
1795.  He  was  fitted  for  Harvard  under  Dr.  Luther 
Stearns,  who  came  to  Medford  as  a  teacher,  but  who 
occasionally  practised  medicine.  He  became  a  member 
of  the  class  of  18 16  at  Harvard. 

The  scrap-book  contains  a  little  relic  of  the  student 
life  of  long  ago.     Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  an  object  that 


OF  THE     '^ 

UNrVERSITY 

OF 


Rev.    CHARLES   BROOKS  (1795-1872), 

HiNGHAM,    1821. 
Silhouette  in  colors,  artist  unknown. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS.  11 

loomed  large  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  He  had  just  been 
sent  to  Saint  Helena,  and  the  question  was  whether  he 
could  escape.  We  find  that  two  students  expressed 
their  beliefs  in  this  record  of  a  wager.  There  is  no 
record  whether  the  dinner  was  held. 

'*  Bet  with  C.  Brooks  that  Napoleon  Bonaparte  will  escape  from 
the  Island  of  St.  Helena  before  the  first  of  August,  a.d,,  1819;  a 
good  dinner  at  our  class  meeting. 

''November  12,  181 5.  Sam'l  D.  Bell."* 

This  date  in  August,  1819,  was  chosen  because  that 
was  the  month  in  which  Commencement  exercises  were 
then  held.  Brooks  took  good  rank  in  his  course,  and 
on  graduation  continued  his  theological  studies  at  Har- 
vard. In  the  month  mentioned  in  the  record  of  the 
wager  he  took  his  Master's  degree  and  delivered  the 
valedictory  in  Latin.     This  paper  is  still  preserved. 

In  November,  1820,  he  was  invited  to  become  pastor 
of  the  Third  Church  at  Hingham  at  a  salary  of  a  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  here  he  remained  until  January,  1839, 
a  period  of  eighteen  years.  Time  permits  only  the 
mention  of  the  activities  of  this  enthusiastic  young 
pastor,  who  did  not  confine  his  work  alone  to  his  church 
and  his  parish.  And  in  these  enterprises  and  undertak- 
ings he  was  the  leader.  The  first  year  of  his  ministry 
he  wrote  a  family  prayer  book,  of  w^hich  there  were  eigh- 
teen editions  published.  A  Boston  merchant  bought 
two  thousand  copies,  which  in  1846  he  had  distributed 
widely  through  the  publishers,  the  donor's  name  not 
being  given. 

He  established  a  Sunday-school  —  then  a  novel  fea- 
ture—  a  parish  reading  society,  was  the  founder  and 
secretary  of  the  Old  Colony  Peace  Society.  In  fact, 
he  appears  to  have  been  the  secretary  in  most  of  the 
societies  with  which  he  was  connected.  He  was  active 
in  the  Plymouth  County  Bible  Society,  and  the  year  he 

•One  of  the  last  clippings  Brooks  inserted  in  the  scrap  book  was  an  obituary  notice  of  his 
college  friend,  Bell.  Samuel  Dana  Bell  (1797-1868)  was  a  son  of  Governor  Samuel  Bell  of  New 
Hampshire.  He  studied  law  and  practiced  in  Concord  and  Manchester.  In  1859  he  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court.     He  resigned  in  1865  and  died  at  Manchester  Jiily,  i863. 


12     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

was  abroad  the  work  languished  seriously.  He  advo- 
cated the  establishment  of  the  Hingham  Institution  for 
Savings,  which  still  continues  on  its  prosperous  course. 
The  account"^  of  his  introduction  of  anthracite  coal 
into  Hingham  is  preserved,  telling  how  some  of  his 
friends  were  fearful  for  the  safety  of  the  Brooks  house- 
hold with  "  those  red  hot  stones  "  in  the  house  at  night. 
He  agitated  successfully  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Hingham  and  Boston  steamboat  line,  and  generally  he 
made  his  influence  felt  for  the  good  of  the  community.! 

Meanwhile  he  married  and  had  three  children  born, 
one  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  And  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  therefore,  that  under  these  varied  achievements, 
requiring  so  much  time,  strength,  and  ardent  endeavor, 
his  health  began  to  fail  and  rest  was  needed.  So,  in 
1833,  he  went  to  Europe,  sailing  November  i,  1833,  in 
ship  Erie  from  New  York. 

There  are  suggestions  in  the  scrap-book  and  in  his 
writings  of  experiences  he  had,  and  of  people^  he  met  on 
this  journey,  whose  names  are  now  household  names. 
For  instance,  there  is  one  clipping  giving  the  story  of 
his  meeting  Felicia  Hemans,  the  author  of  the  old  Pil- 
grim hymn.  His  letters  were  carefully  kept  and  then 
bound  in  one  volume.  He  was  untiring  in  his  sight 
seeing  and  painstaking  in  reporting  all  he  saw. 

From  this  brief  recital  we  can  obtain  some  concep- 
tion of  Charles  Brooks,  his  personality,  his  character- 
istics, his  capacity  for  work,  and  of  the  success  which 
resulted.  Now  we  must  be  allowed  an  inference  that 
in  all  these  activities,  he  could  not  but  have  appreciated 
the  conditions  of  schools  and  of  general  education.  Let 
us  leave  him  for  a  while  on  his  European  trip,  while  we 
see  what  he  must  have  seen,  and  what  others  certainly 
saw  regarding  the  condition  of  schools. 

There  are  four  who  are  competent  authorities  as  to 
the  condition  of  teachers  and  schools  at  this  time.     The 

*Hingham  Journal,  March  4,  1862.     History  of  Hingham,  Vol.  I,  Part  II,  p.  52. 

tMemoir  of  Rev.  Charles  Brooks,  by  Solomon  Lincoln  of  Hingham.  Proceedings  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  June,  1880. 

J"  I  have  letters  to  Miss  Edgeworth,  Mrs.  Hemans,  Miss  Lucy  Aiken,  Miss  Martineau,  the 
Bishop  of  London,  Lafayette,  etc.,  etc."    Letter  of  Brooks  to  his  wife,  October  31,  1833. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS,  13 

first  is  James  G.  Carter,  whose  work  will  be  later  spoken 
of.  In  a  paper,*  published  in  1824,  he  described  the 
teachers  of  the  primary  summer  schools  as  "  possessed 
of  very  moderate  attainments,  for  they  were  often  very 
young,  constantly  changing  their  employment,  and  con- 
sequently with  but  little  experience."  He  asks  "  if  there 
is  any  other  service  in  which  young  and  often  ignorant 
persons  are  employed,  without  some  previous  instruction 
in  their  appropriate  duties."  You  wonder  how  such 
teachers  were  appointed,  and  Carter  explains.  He  says, 
"  No  standard  of  attainments  is  fixed  at  which  these 
female  teachers  must  arrive  before  they  assume  the  busi- 
ness of  instruction,  so  that  any  one  keeps  school  (which 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  teaching  school),  who 
wishes  to  do  it  and  can  persuade,  by  herself  or  her 
friends,  a  small  district  to  employ  her." 

Professor  Francis  Bowent  of  Harvard,  writing  fifty 
years  ago  of  the  common  school  system  of  New  Eng- 
land, said  that  at  this  time — the  early  'thirties — "it  had 
degenerated  into  routine,  it  was  starved  by  parsimony. 
Any  hovel  would  answer  for  a  schoolhouse,  any  primer 
would  do  for  a  text-book,  any  farmer's  apprentice  was 
competent  to  keep  school." 

George  H.  Martin,  the  present  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  and  therefore  a  successor  of  Horace  Mann, 
in  his  book  which  has  become  a  standard,  "  The  Evolu- 
tion of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System,"  says,| 
"  The  majority  of  Massachusetts  citizens  were  torpid,  so 
far  as  school  interests  were  concerned,  or  if  aroused  at 
all,  awakened  only  to  a  spasmodic  and  momentary  ex- 
citement over  the  building  of  a  new  chimney  to  a  dis- 
trict schoolhouse,  or  the  adding  of  a  half-dollar  a  month 
to  the  wages  of  a  school-mistress." 

And  the  fourth  is  Brooks  himself.  In  his  address 
before  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  at  Worces- 

*The  Schools  of  Massachusetts  in  1824,  by  James  Gordon  Carter.     Old  South  Leaflets,  No.  135. 

fMemoirof  Edmund  Dwight,  by  Francis  Bowen.  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  IV,  p. 
14,  September,  1857. 

JThe  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  Public  School  System:  a  Historical  Sketch,  by  George 
H.  Martin,  a.m.,  Supervisor  of  Public  Schools,  Boston.  New  York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1904. 
P.  146. 


14     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

ter,  August,  1837,  he  quoted  from  a  petition  to  the  Legis- 
lature the  previous  winter,  and  said,  "  The  committee  of 
the  institute  in  their  petition  gave  their  evidence  before 
the  world  in  these  words,  '  A  very  large  number  of  both 
sexes  who  teach  the  summer  and  winter  schools  are  to 
a  mournful  degree  wanting  in  all  these  qualifications,  in 
short,  they  know  not  what  to  teach,  nor  how  to  teach, 
nor  in  what  spirit  to  teach,  nor  what  is  the  fiature  of 
those  they  undertake  to  lead,  nor  what  they  are  them- 
selves to  stand  forward  to  lead  them.' " 

I  will  not  ask  you  to  burden  your  minds  with  these 
quotations,  for  it  is  certain  that  some  of  the  words  will 
stay  by  you,  such  as,  "  young  and  ignorant  persons," 
*'  starved  by  parsimony,"  "  hovel,"  "  fanner's  apprentice," 
"  excitement  about  new  chimney."  These  conditions, 
mind  you,  were  in  Massachusetts,  not  in  some  border 
territory  or  frontier  settlement,  and  the  time  was  the 
third  and  fourth  decades  of  the  last  century. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  were  indiffer- 
ent to  the  existence  of  such  deplorable  conditions. 
The  work  of  these  men  is  fully  discussed  by  Dr.  Hins- 
dale in  his  "  Life  of  Horace  Mann,"*  in  the  chapter  on 
"  Horace  Mann's  Forerunners."  In  this  he  aims  "  to 
name  the  principal  of  Mr.  Mann's  precursors,  and  briefly 
to  characterize  their  work."  The  bibliography  of  the 
educational  work  is  large  and  complete,  and  an  investi- 
gator will  find  much  that  will  interest  him  if  he  com- 
pares and  contrasts  the  plans  proposed.  But  in  such  a 
paper  as  this,  which  treats  of  the  definite  work  of  Charles 
Brooks,  it  would  be  wandering  from  the  subject  and 
would  tend  to  confusion  if  an  attempt  were  made  to 
treat  of  the  general  work  and  of  what  others  were  doing, 
except  as  such  work  was  related  to  that  which  Brooks 
marked  out  to  be  done  by  himself.  Brooks  did  a  defi- 
nite and  specific  work.  Its  inception,  its  progress,  and 
its  consummation,  all  are  clearly  defined. 

That  Brooks  did  have  a  clear  and  definite  purpose 

♦Horace  Mann  and  the  Common  School  Revival  in  the  United  States,  by  B.A.  Hinsdale,  Ph.d. 
LL.D.  Professor  of  the  Science  and  the  Art  of  Teaching  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  New 
York,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1898. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS.  Vo 

for  which  he  was  striving  during  these  years  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  knew  when  his  object  was  attained. 
Note  his  statement  in  the  Framingham  address,  when 
he  reviewed  his  great  work.  He  briefly  stated  his  pur- 
pose and  its  accompHshment  in  these  words,  "  The  Prus- 
sian system  with  its  two  central  powers,  a  board  of 
education  and  normal  schools,  was  not  known  in  New 
England,  when  I  first  described  it  in  public  in  1835,  but 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1838,  Massachusetts,  the  Banner 
State,  adopted  State  Normal  Schools  by  statute.  .  .  . 
The  19th  of  April,  1838,  has  ever  since  been  a  red  letter 
day  in  my  memory." 

Mr.  Brooks'  statement  that  the  Prussian  system  was 
not  known  in  New  England  is  confirmed  by  the  re- 
searches of  Dr.  Hinsdale,  whose  conclusion  we  can 
adopt.  He  found  that  "  down  to  1835,  there  is  no  direct 
evidence  showing  that  American  educators  were  ac- 
quainted with  what  had  been  done  in  Europe  for  the 
training  of  teachers."* 

There  had  been,  however,  from  time  to  time,  express- 
ions more  or  less  formal,  that  teachers  should  be  fitted 
for  their  work,  for  the  reason  that  teaching  is  a  profess- 
ion, and  requires  special  training,  as  does  any  other 
profession.  There  was  an  appreciation  of  the  fact  that 
schools  might  be  improved,  and  suggestions  had  been 
offered  as  to  how  to  bring  about  the  desired  result. 
Not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  in  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania,  were  there  those  who  were 
thinking,  talking,  and  planning,  but  no  practicable  result 
had  as  yet  been  reached. 

In  later  years,  after  Massachusetts  showed  the  way, 
and  proved  by  results  its  effectiveness,  other  states  fol- 
lowed. It  has  been  pointed  out  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris, 
late  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  that 
while  state  pride  usually  leads  to  the  choice  of  one's 
own  state  to  head  the  list  in  educational  history,  uni- 
formly the  second  place  is  assigned  to  Massachusetts.! 

*HinsdaIe*s  Horace  Mann,  pp.  146-7. 

fMartin's  Massachusetts  Public  School  System,  Editor's  Preface. 


16     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

There  is  one  name  that  stands  out  above  all  others  in 
the  early  years  of  the  educational  revival,  that  is,  prior 
to  1837,  James  G.  Carter  of  Lancaster,  Massachusetts. 
A  Harvard  graduate  of  1820,  a  teacher  by  profession,  a 
clear,  strong  thinker,  and  a  forcible  writer,  he  began  as 
early  as  1824  to  publish  to  the  world  his  thoughts  on 
the  Principles  of  Instruction.  Then  he  sought  to  reach 
the  public  through  the  columns  of  a  Boston  newspaper, 
and  suggested  an  outline  of  an  institution  for  the  educa- 
tion of  teachers.  His  ideas  were  new,  attracted  much 
attention,  and  were  discussed  in  the  periodicals  of  the 
time.  He  was  active  in  founding  the  American  Institute 
of  Instruction,  in  1830,  an  organization  that  still  exists 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  thus  proving  Carter's  appre- 
ciation of  what  was  needed.  Later,  as  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  he  strove  earnestly  for  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion, as  we  shall  see  presently.* 

But  there  was  one  thing  lacking  to  set  the  work  going, 
namely,  the  arousing  of  public  sentiment  to  demand 
action  that  would  lead  to  better  teachers  and  better 
schools,  and  to  this  work,  for  which  he  was  especially 
adapted,  Charles  Brooks  gave  three  of  the  best  years  of 
his  life. 

Now  we  left  Mr.  Brooks  a  while  ago,  sailing  for  Europe 
in  1833.  Let  us  return  to  him  and  hear  him  tell  in  his 
own  words  how  he  was  led  to  take  up  this  work.t 

''At  a  literary  soiree  in  London,  August,  1834,  ^  ^^^^  ^^'  ■^• 
Julius  of  Hamburg,  then  on  his  way  to  the  United  States,  having 
been  sent  by  the  King  of  Prussia  to  learn  the  condition  of  our 
schools,  hospitals,  prisons,  and  other  public  institutions.  He  asked 
to  be  my  room-mate  on  board  ship.  I  was  too  happy  to  accede  to 
that  request.  A  passage  of  forty-one  days  from  Liverpool  to  New 
York  gave  me  time  to  ask  all  manner  of  questions  concerning  the 
noble,  philosophical  and  practical  system  of  Prussian  elementary 
education.  He  explained  it  like  a  sound  scholar  and  a  pious 
Christian.  If  you  will  allow  the  phrase,  I  fell  in  love  ivith  the 
Prussian  system,  and  it  seemed  to  possess  me  like  a  missionary 
angel.     I  gave  myself  to  it,  and  in  the  Gulf  Stream  I  resolved  to 

*Barnards  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  V,  pp.  407-416-,    also  Hinsdale's  Mann.  p.  52;  Martin's 
Public  School  System,  p.  147. 
tFramingham  Address. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS,  17 

do  something  about  State  normal  schools.     This  was  its  birth  in 
me,  and  I  baptized  it  my  Seaborn  School. 

'*  After  this  I  looked  upon  each  child  as  a  being  who  could  com- 
plain of  me  before  God  if  I  refused  to  provide  for  him  a  better 
education,  after  what  I  had  learned." 

Six  months  later,  that  is,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  Dr. 
JuHus  made  a  visit  to  Mr.  Brooks  at  Hingham,  and 
Brooks  announced  that  he  was  going  to  make  the  at- 
tempt to  introduce  the  Prussian  system  into  Massachu- 
setts. 

It  is  evident  that  he  recognized  the  importance  of 
having  a  thorough  preparation  for  the  campaign,  for  in 
addition  to  his  other  studies,  he  corresponded  with  Victor 
Cousin,  whom  he  had  met  upon  his  European  journey. 
Cousin's  work  on  the  Prussian  system  of  normal  schools 
had  already  been  translated  into  English,  and  was  meet- 
ing with  favor  in  the  circles  where  the  matter  of  im- 
proved educational  facilities  was  the  subject  of  deep 
concern. 

When  Brooks  felt  that  he  had  learned  his  stor}%  he 
wrote  and  published,  but  in  his  own  words,  "  Few  read 
and  still  fewer  felt  any  interest.  I  was  considered  a 
dreamer,  who  wished  to  fill  our  Republican  Common- 
wealth with  monarchical  institutions." 

But  Brooks'  whole  active  life  showed  that  he  was  not 
one  to  be  turned  aside  from  his  purpose,  if  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  that  the  idea  for  which  he  was  working  was 
right.  If  one  plan  did  not  bring  the  desired  result,  then 
others  were  devised.  And,  as  by  the  printing  press  he 
did  not  obtain  his  results,*  he  determined  to  try  the  effect 
of  his  personal  presence  and  his  word  of  mouth.  On 
Thanksgiving  Day,  1835,  he  delivered  a  carefully  pre- 
pared address  to  his  people  of  Hingham,  setting  forth 
at  length  and  in  detail,  the  needs  of  the  schools  in  gen- 
eral, and  particularly,  what  the  Prussian  system  of  State 
normal  schools,  if  adopted,  would  accomplish  in  Massa- 

♦Christian  Register,  Dec.  27,  1834,  "Schools."  This  article,  unsigned.  Brooks  clipped  and 
initialled  in  the  scrap  book.  There  are  also  unsigned  articles,  June  22  and  July  11,  1835,  on  Public 
Instruction  of  Prussia,  which  are  in  Brooks'  style. 


18    CHARLES   BROOKS  AND   NORMAL  SCHOOLS. 

chusetts.  He  dwelt  on  the  phrase  which  he  used  so 
often,  "  As  is  the  teacher,  so  is  the  school." 

He  had  hoped  that  there  would  be  a  request  that  this 
sermon  be  printed,  but  none  came.  Nevertheless,  he 
found  some  encouragement,  so  that  he  was  satisfied  that 
by  address  and  discussion  he  could  best  further  the 
cause.  Accordingly  he  prepared  three  lectures.  He 
says  himself  they  are  enormously  long,  two  hours  each. 
The  first  described  minutely  the  Prussian  system.  In 
the  second,  he  showed  how  it  could  be  adapted  to  con- 
ditions in  Massachusetts,  and  how  it  would  affect  favor- 
ably each  town,  each  school,  each  family,  each  child. 
The  third  lecture  was  to  show  the  beneficent  results  of 
the  State  normal  schools. 

By  this  time  you  are  naturally  and  reasonably  asking 
what  was  Prussian  system  and  what  did  Mr.  Brooks  find 
to  say  in  his  three  lectures  of  two  hours  each.  He  has 
preserved  records  of  his  having  delivered  them  repeat- 
edly, separately  and  in  series.  The  manuscripts  them- 
selves have  not  been  found,  but  by  anticipating  a  little 
in  the  thread  of  the  story,  a  document  which  Mr.  Brooks 
drew  up  can  be  cited,  as  it  contains  in  brief  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  Prussian  system.  This  document  was  a  pe- 
tition* sent  to  the  Legislature  in  January,  1837,  by  the 
Halifax  Convention. 

By  the  time  of  this  convention,  for  which  Mr.  Brooks 
prepared  the  document,  he  had  acquired  a  felicity  and 
directness  of  expression  by  reason  of  his  long  experience 
in  presenting  the  subject  to  many  audiences.  The  doc- 
ument is  a  long  one,  and  from  it  we  can  extract  four 
crisp  and  expressive  sentences  which  will  give  at  least  a 
working  idea  of  the  system. 

"  The  object  of  education  is  to  develop  all  the  powers, 
faculties,  and  affections  of  human  nature  in  their  natural 
order,  proper  time  and  due  proportion,  so  that  each  one 
may  occupy  the  exact  place  in  the  grown  up  character 
which  God  at  first  ordained  in  the  infant  constitution." 

^Barnard's  Journal  of  Education.    Vol.  XVII,  p.  647. 


CHARLES    BROOKS    (1795-1S72). 
Bust  by  Crawford,  Rome,   1S42. 

Conforming  to  the  wishes  of  the  Brooks  family,  this  bust  was  given  to  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts  in  1892,  and  it  has  been  placed  appropriately  in  the  office  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  Massachusetts  State  House. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS.  19 

"He  who  has  but  half  the  powers  (which  God  has  be- 
stowed on  him),  developed  and  in  action,  is  just  half  as 
useful  and  half  as  happy  as  he  might  have  been." 

"  The  Prussian  system,  better  than  any  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  aims  at  unfolding  the  whole  nature 
of  man  as  the  Creator  designed ;  thus  bringing  out  all 
the  talent  of  the  country,  and  thereby  giving  to  every 
child  the  chance  of  making  the  most  of  himself." 

"  The  Prussian  system,  therefore,  is  emphatically  a 
Christian  system.  '  Love  God,  love  man ;  do  to  others 
as  you  would  that  others  should  do  to  you.'  These  are 
the  basis  of  all  their  instructions." 

Now  these  citations  have  to  do  with  the  theory  of 
education.  But  Brooks'  work  was  practical  rather  than 
theoretical,  and  in  the  following  quotation  is  the  key  to 
the  method  by  which  this  Prussian  system  was  to  be 
put  in  practice. 

''  The  Prussian  principle  seems  to  be  this:  that  everything  which 
it  is  desirable  to  have  in  the  national  character  should  be  carefully 
inculcated  in  elementary  education.  .  .  .  Over  and  over  again 
have  the  Prussians  proved  that  elementary  education  cannot  be 
fully  attained  without  purposely-prepared  teachers.  They  deem 
these  seminaries  of  priceless  value  and  declare  them  in  all  their 
reports  and  laws  to  be  fountains  of  their  success.  Out  of  this  fact 
in  their  history  has  arisen  the  maxim,  *  As  is  the  master,  so  is  the 
school.' " 

You  see,  therefore,  the  outline  of  Mr.  Brooks'  plan. 

I  St.  Elementary  education  is  not  of  local  concern 
only,  but  is  of  national  importance,  and  the  State  must 
so  recognize  it. 

2d.  The  State  can  best  strengthen  the  cause  of  ele- 
mentary education  by  furnishing  purposely-prepared 
teachers,  for  "  as  is  the  teacher,  so  is  the  school." 

3d.  The  State  must  commit  the  details  to  a  Board 
of  Education  with  a  secretary  who  shall  supervise  and 
recommend. 

It  may  be  anticipating  a  conclusion,  but  it  is  the  fact, 
whether  stated  now  or  later,  that  this  outline  is  exactly 


^>     OF  THE  \ 


UNIVER 


ci' 


20  CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS. 

what  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  adopted  in  its 
laws,  and  as  we  have  become  used  to  them,  we  find  it 
difficult  to  conceive  of  the  conditions,  some  of  which 
have  already  been  described. 

The  system  Brooks  undertook  to  change  was  based 
first  on  the  district,  that  is,  that  the  education  of  the 
children  was  a  matter  to  be  cared  for  by  the  tax  payers 
in  that  district.  Hence,  in  advocating  the  principle  that 
the  education  of  the  children  was  a  concern  of  the  State 
as  well  as  of  the  locality.  Brooks  had  to  run  counter  to  the 
feeling  of  local  pride,  for  frequently  a  town  would  be 
subdivided  into  districts,  each  of  which  was  independent 
of  the  others  as  regards  its  management  of  its  schools. 

Brooks  stated  often  that  he  originated  nothing,  but 
that  he  brought  to  his  own  people  what  he  found  abroad. 
But  this  is  not  a  fair  statement  of  what  he  did.  A  com- 
parison of  what  Dr.  Julius  told  him  on  that  voyage  of 
forty-one  days  with  the  system  as  Brooks  developed  it, 
is  indicative  of  how  clearly  and  fully  Brooks  compre- 
hended the  defects  of  the  educational  system  prevailing 
here. 

Dr.  Julius,  during  his  tour  of  investigation  in  the 
United  States,  attended  at  Philadelphia  a  meeting  of 
those  interested  in  the  welfare  of  prisoners.  His  remarks 
on  education  in  its  bearing  on  the  prevention  of  crime 
were  so  well  received  that  he  was  asked  to  allow  them 
to  be  printed.  It  is  fair  to  presume  that  he  would  not 
at  that  meeting  state  his  facts  any  less  strongly  or  clearly 
than  he  did  to  Brooks  on  that  long  voyage,  so  that  we 
may  regard  these  statements  as  being  those  on  which 
Brooks  based  his  enthusiasm  for  the  Prussian  system.* 

''The  well-known  —  and  since  Mr.  Cousin  published  his  inter- 
esting report  —  far-famed  Prussian  system  of  national  education 
went  properly  into  practice  in  the  year  1819,  and  has  three  funda- 
mental principles  and  supporting  pillars. 

'•^ Firsts  the  creation  of  seminaries  or  schools  for  teachers  in  the 

♦Remarks  on  the  relation  between  Education  and  Crime  in  a  letter  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  William 
White,  D.D,,  president  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public  Prisons, 
by  Francis  Lieber,  ll.d.  To  which  are  added  some  observations  by  N.  H.  Julius,  m.d.,  of  Ham- 
burg, a  corresponding  member  of  the  society.    Published  by  order  of  the  society,  Philadelphia,  1835. 


\ 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS,  21 

elementary  schools,  of  which  Prussia,  with  a  population  equal  to 
that  of  the  United  States,  has  now  forty-three,  of  the  Protestant 
and  Catholic  denominations,  furnishing  annually  from  eight  to  nine 
hundred  teachers,  well  informed  and  trained  during  three  years  for 
their  future  avocation. 

^^ Second^  Legal  obligation  of  parents  and  guardians  to  send 
children  under  their  care,  unless  under  qualified  teachers  at  home 
or  in  authorized  private  schools,  to  the  public  schools  from  the  first 
day  of  their  seventh  to  the  last  day  of  their  fourteenth  years. 

''''Third,  The  foundation  of  the  whole  system  on  a  religious  and 
moral  basis,  so  that  the  first,  or  the  first  two  hours  of  each  day  are 
directed  entirely  to  a  regular  course  of  religious  instruction,  teach- 
ing, besides  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  (for  the  Catholics,  his- 
tories taken  from  the  Bible),  all  the  duties  of  man  towards  his 
Creator,  the  constituted  authorities,  and  his  fellow  creatures,  as 
they  are  inculcated  by  the  Gospel." 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  because  Brooks  seems  to 
have  laid  little  stress  on  the  need  of  religious  training 
in  the  public  schools,  he  was  indifferent  to  religious 
training  for  the  young.  When  one  remembers  the  tur- 
moil and  confusion  that  history  records  as  existing  in 
the  ecclesiastical  circles  of  Massachusetts  in  1836,  when 
families  were  divided,  friends  and  neighbors  became 
enemies,  business  suffered,  litigation  was  instituted  in 
many  instances,  and  strained  relations  were  created, 
some  of  which  continued  almost  to  our  time,  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  in  the  midst  of  the  denominational  strife, 
Brooks  on  Fast  Day,  1836,  could  bring  together  in  his 
church  at  Hingham  an  inter-denominational  convention 
to  consider  Sunday-school  work.  He  made  the  opening 
address,  in  which  he  dealt  with  the  necessity  of  apply- 
ing recognized  educational  methods  to  Sunday-school 
teaching.  The  meeting  must  have  been  a  long  one,  but 
that  was  a  characteristic  of  the  meetings  of  that  time. 
The  names  of  twelve  of  the  speakers  are  given  in  the 
report  in  the  Hingham  paper,  prepared  by  Mr.  Brooks, 
and  among  them  are  found  Unitarian  and  Trinitarian 
Congregationalists,  Baptists,  and  Methodists.  One  sen- 
tence from  the  report  must  sui^ce:  "It  seemed  deeply 
impressed  on  many  minds  that  Sabbath-schools  were  to 


22    CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

be  the  means  of  renovating  the  church,  of  reforming 
society,  of  saving  the  world."* 

By  the  autumn  of  1836  Brooks  had  had  enough  ex- 
perience in  the  presentation  of  his  subject  to  enable  him 
to  formulate  a  definite  plan  of  campaign,  and  that  this 
plan  was  successful  the  sequel  shows.  The  changes  of 
the  last  seventy  years  have  already  been  spoken  of. 
Here  is  another  instance,  for  the  method  Brooks  adopted 
successfully  then  would  hardly  attract  attention  now, 
even  if  it  did  not  defeat  the  purpose  entirely.  His  plan 
was  to  call  a  convention. 

First,  he  sent  out  a  circular  which  he  had  carefully 
prepared  and  had  printed  as  a  broadside,  containing 
sixteen  hundred  words.  The  date  was  November  10, 
1836,  and  the  qonvention  was  not  to  meet  until  Decem- 
ber 7,  nearly  a  month  later.  But  communication  was 
slow  in  those  days. 

After  a  brief  appeal  by  w^ay  of  introduction,  he  said:  — 

*'In  order  that  we  may  do  something  I  would  propose  that  a 
convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  towns  in  the  county  meet 
at  Plymouth  in  Court  Week  (Wednesday,  December  7,  at  6  p.m.), 
to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  greatly  improved  modes  of  elementary 
instruction  which  have  been  in  most  successful  operation  for  sev- 
eral years  in  Germany,  Prussia,  and  other  European  states.  This 
step  might  result  in  the  appointment  of  a  Board  of  Education.   .   .   . 

'*  There  is  one  provision  preparatory  to  a  full  instruction  of  our 
youth,  which  I  deem  of  vast  moment;  I  mean,  a  seminary  for  pre- 
paring teachers.  After  this  is  established,  all  other  improvements 
may  be  easily  carried  forward ;  and  until  this  is  done,  we  shall,  I 
fear,  advance,  but  in  very  slow  and  broken  steps.  In  Prussia  there 
are  forty-two  such  seminaries,  and  they  are  there  found  to  be  the 
very  life  blood  of  their  school  system,  a  system  vastly  superior  to 
ours.  Two  such  seminaries,  one  for  males,  and  the  other  for  fe- 
males, situated,  the  one  in  Plymouth  and  the  other  in  Middleboro, 
would  soon  have  a  direct  influence  on  every  school  in  the  county." 

He  then  mentions  in  detail  topics  that  might  be  dis- 
cussed to  advantage  in  meetings  called  officially  by  the 
Board  of  Education,  such  as  schoolhouses  and  their  con- 
struction, school  books,  compulsory  attendance,  and  the 

♦Hingham  Gazette,  April  15,  1836. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS.  23 

prevention  of  truancy,  the  teaching  of  singing  and  draw- 
ing and  other  features  which  are  today  taken  as  matters 
of  course,  thanks  to  the  adoption  of  the  tried  and  proved 
Prussian  system  he  advocated. 

But  Brooks  inspired  others  with  his  own  enthusiasm, 
as  this  quotation  shows :  — 

**  I  sent  copies  of  this  circular,  printed  on  letter  paper,  to  each 
board  of  selectmen,  each  school  committee,  and  each  clergyman  in 
the  countv,  requesting  clergymen  to  read  it  on  the  next  Sunday  to 
their  people.  Most  of  them  read  it.  The  circular  was  kindly 
noticed  by  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  State.  The  large  meet- 
ing-house of  the  First  Parish  in  Plymouth  was  tilled,  and  I  opened 
the  whole  matter  as  clearly  and  strongly  as  I  could,  showing  that 
the  great  work  must  begin  by  founding  a  State  normal  school  in 
Plymouth  County. 

**I  invited  the  audience  to  catechize  me  as  much  as  they  could 
about  my  views  and  plans,  and  they  did  so.  The  audience  warmed 
themselves  up,  and  Ichabod  Morton,  Esq.,  Deacon  of  the  First  Par- 
ish, rose  and  said,  '  Mr.  President,  I  am  glad  to  see  this  day.  The 
work  is  well  begun.  The  mass  of  facts  now  presented  to  us  so 
plainly,  prove  conclusively  the  inestimable  value  of  teachers'  semi- 
naries. Mr.  Brooks  says  he  wants  the  first  one  established  in  the 
Old  Colony,  and  so  do  I,  sir,  and  I  will  give  one  thousand  dollars 
towards  its  establishment.' 

**  I  knew  that  the  generous  offer  of  this  humble  and  pious  man* 
would  do  more  for  my  cause  than  all  my  lectures,  and  I  therefore 
secured  a  notice  of  it  in  every  newspaper  in  Massachusetts.  Thus 
my  client,  the  Prussian  stranger,  began  its  journey  from  the  Ply- 
mouth Rock."t 

The  convention  after  two  days'  session,  adopted  reso- 
lutions endorsing  Mr.  Brooks'  views.  At  all  the  con- 
ventions Mr.  Brooks  attended  and  where  he  spoke,  it 

*  Hon.  Wm.  T.  Davis  of  Plymouth  has  kindly  furnished  some  facts  about  this  enthusiastic  co- 
adjutor of  Brooks.  Ichabod  Morton,  born  in  Plymouth,  was  a  descendant  of  George  Morton,  the 
father  of  Nathaniel,  the  first  secretary  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.  His  education  was  slight,  for  he 
became  engaged  early  in  the  work  oi  life;  first,  as  clerk  in,  and  then  keeper  of,  a  country  store. 
As  he  had  learned  something  of  surveying,  he  would  at  times  survey  wood  lots.  His  store  keeping 
led  to  an  interest  in  vessels,  first  in  the  Grand  Bank  fishing,  and  afterwards  with  larger  vessels  in 
the  coasting  and  West  India  trade.  Like  all  traders,  in  his  early  days  he  sold  rum  and  other  liquors, 
but  at  the  institution  of  the  temperance  movement  in  Plymouth,  he  advertised  September  8,  1827, 
on  behalf  of  his  firm  "  That  prolific  mother  of  miseries,  that  giant  foe  to  human  happiness,  shall  no 
longer  have  a  dwelling  under  our  roof." 

Feeling  his  own  lack  of  early  education,  he  was  always  advocating  in  town  meeting  increased 
appropriations  for  schools.  He  joined  the  anli-slavery  movement  in  1835,  and  when  Brook  Farm 
was  established,  he  became  a  member  and  built  a  house  there.  His  business  interests  at  Plymouth 
naturally  suffered  by  this,  but  he  returned  to  them  with  more  zeal  than  ever.  He  had  six  sons 
and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Abby  Morton  Diaz,  the  author  of  the  William  Henry  letters, 

t  Address  at  Framingham. 


24  CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

was  his  custom  to  have  resolutions  adopted,  and  these 
resolutions  he  prepared  beforehand,  so  there  was  a  unan- 
imity in  the  demands.  This  Plymouth  convention  was 
followed  in  quick  succession  during  December  by  others 
at  Hingham,  Duxbury,  New  Bedford,  Fairhaven  and 
Bridgewater.  Evidently  there  was  then  no  Christmas 
rush.  He  must  have  been  satisfied  with  the  response 
at  these  meetings,  for  again  he  calls  another  convention ; 
this  time  it  is  for  the  specific  purpose  of  securing  for  the 
Old  Colony  a  seminary  for  teachers.  The  call  was  dated 
January  5,  1837,  "^"^^  ^^s  for  a  convention  at  Halifax  on 
January  24,  1837. 

But  after  this  call  was  issued  and  before  the  conven- 
tion was  held,  a  couple  of  events  happened  which  satisfied 
Mr.  Brooks  that  his  work  had  not  been  in  vain.  The 
first  was  the  interrogative  statement  in  the  governor's 
message  as  to  whether  it  would  not  be  well  to  arrange 
for  a  school  commission.  The  second  event  was  an  in- 
vitation from  the  Legislature  that  Mr.  Brooks  deliver  an 
address  before  them  on  schools.  Hear  his  own  words 
on  this:  — 

''One  evening  in  January,  1S37,  ^  ^^^  sitting  reading  to  my 
family  when  a  letter  was  brought  me  from  the  friends  of  education 
in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  asking  me  to  lecture  on  my  hobby 
subject.  I  was  electrified  with  joy.  The  whole  heavens,  to  my 
eyes,  seemed  now  filled  with  rainbows.  January  18  came,  and 
the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  perfectly  full.  I  gave 
an  account  of  the  Prussian  system,  and  they  asked  if  I  would  lec- 
ture again.  I  consented,  and  the  next  evening  endeavored  to  show 
how  far  the  Prussian  system  could  be  safely  adopted  in  the  United 
States."* 

The  Halifax  convention  voted  to  adopt  a  petition  to 
the  Legislature  which  Mr.  Brooks  drew  up,  and  which 
the  chairman  and  secretary  signed,  praying  for  a  teachers' 
seminary  in  Plymouth  County.t  This  petition  sets  forth 
at  length  the  arguments  Brooks  used  in  his  lectures,  and 
it  is  worth  a  careful  study. 

*01d  Colony  Memorial  newspaper,  October  4,  1845. 
tHingham  Gazette,  February  24,  1837. 


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Rev.  Chs.  Brooks, 

My  dear  Sir, 

The  new  Normal  School  house  at  Bridgewater  is  to 
be  dedicated  on  Wednesday  the  19th  inst.,  address  by  Hon.  Wm.  G. 
Bates. 

Your  name  is  so  familiarly  associated  with  Normal  Schools,  that  a 
Dedication  would  not  be  without  danger  of  being  set  aside  as  spurious 
&  invalid,  if  you  were  not  present.  Tho'  we  expect  to  have  a  pleasant 
time,  yet  we  can  hardly  afford  to  go  thro'  with  it  again,  &  therefore 
we  hope  it  will  be  legitimated  by  your  presence. 

Very  truly  &  sincerely, 
Yours 
Horace  Mann. 
Wrentham  Aug.  12,   1846. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL  SCHOOLS.  25 

Two  months  later,  in  April,  1837,  the  act*  establishing 
the  Board  of  Education  was  signed  by  Governor  Edward 
Everett,  and  now  Horace  Mann  comes  into  the  story  of 
the  movement,  for  he  was  appointed  secretary  for  the 
board.  This  appointment  was  unexpected  to  him  and 
to  others,  for  Mr.  Brooks  and  others  who  knew  and 
appreciated  what  James  G.  Carter  had  been  doing  for 
fourteen  years,  advocated  his  appointment.  It  is  thought 
that  Edmund  Dwight,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  pres- 
ently, was  responsible  for  Mann's  appointment.  There 
has  never  been  any  question  that  whoever  it  was  that 
secured  the  appointment  of  Horace  Mann  to  this  impor- 
tant office,  it  was  wise,  discreet,  and  a  tribute  to  some- 
one's knowledge  of  men,  for  later  events  showed  that 
Mann  was  emphatically  the  one  for  the  place. 

Until  the  date  of  Mann's  appointment  he  had  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  cause  to  which  he  gave  so  much, 
and  on  which  his  fame  rests,  except  some  experience  as 
a  tutor  and  one  term  as  school  committee  man  in  Ded- 
ham.  He  was  a  lawyer  in  active  practice.  He  had  re- 
cently completed  printing  a  revision  of  the  statutes  of 
Massachusetts  and  was  serving  a  second  term  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  when  the  act  was  passed  establishing 
the  Board  of  Education.  What  he  did,  what  he  endured, 
what  attacks  he  had  to  meet,  what  financial  sacrifices  he 
made,  all  are  matters  of  record,  and  his  fame  is  secure. 

Brooks  says  that  he  thought  that  now  it  was  time 
for  him  to  return  to  his  professional  duties,  as  that  for 
which  he  had  labored  had  been  accomplished  when  the 
board  was  created.  But  Mann  urged  him  to  keep  on 
with  his  lecturing  until  normal  schools  were  secured. 
Brooks  replied  that  they  were  secured,  now  that  the 
board  had  been  established.  Brooks,  however,  did  con- 
tinue, for  the  movement  had  acquired  such  great  momen- 
tum that  he  was  needed  to  guide  it  by  explaining  just 
what  was  needed. 

•Acts  of  1837,  Chap.  241.  An  Act  relating  to  Common  Schools.  The  secretary  shall  diffuse 
information  of  educational  methods  "  to  the  end  that  all  children  in  this  Commonwealth,  who  depend 
upon  common  schools  for  instruction,  may  have  the  best  education  which  those  schools  can  be  made 
to  impart." 


26     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

Up  and  down  the  state  he  went,  two  thousand  miles 
in  his  chaise,  and  over  into  New  Hampshire  and  Ver- 
mont, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania, ever  ringing  the  changes  on  his  maxim  :  "  As  is 
the  teacher,  so  is  the  school,"  stating  the  facts  about  what 
the  system  had  actually  wrought  in  Prussia,  and  urging 
the  people  to  adopt  the  same  successful  system  here. 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  January,  1838,  the  next 
winter  after  the  Board  of  Education  had  been  estabhshed, 
the  subject  of  normal  schools  was  in  the  air  and  some- 
thing had  to  be  done.  The  Legislature  wished  to  hear 
arguments,  and  Horace  Mann,  as  secretary,  first  addressed 
them.  The  second  address  was  by  Mr.  Brooks  on  Nor- 
mal Schools  and  School  Reform.  The  governor's  mes- 
sage recommended  normal  schools,  and  when  a  private 
citizen  anonymously,  through  Horace  Mann  as  secretary, 
offered  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  for  normal  schools  if  the  Legislature  would 
appropriate  an  equal  amount,  the  act  was  passed.  On 
April  19,  1838,  the  gift  was  accepted,  the  appropriation 
made,  and  normal  schools  began  their  course.  The 
donor  of  the  ten  thousand  dollars  was  Edmund  Dwight,* 
a  Boston  merchant. 

In  addition  to  his  general  lecturing.  Brooks  worked 
for  a  normal  school  in  Plymouth  County.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1838,  a  convention  of  the  Plymouth  County  Asso- 
ciation for  the  improvement  of  schools  was  held  at 
Hanover  to  urge  the  establishment  of  a  normal  school 
in  Plymouth  County.  Mr.  Brooks  saw  the  importance 
of  the  meeting  and  of  the  thoughts  brought  out,  for  later 
he  had  an  abstract  of  the  speeches  printed  for  circula- 
tion. To  this  meeting!  Brooks  succeeded  in  bringing 
as  speakers,  Horace  Mann,  Rev.  Dr.  George  Putnam, 
Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  President  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Daniel  Webster.  Mr.  Adams  had  previously  declined, 
giving  as  his  reason  his  ignorance  of  the  subject,  but 

*Memoir  of  Edmund  Dwight,  by  Francis  Bowen.  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  IV, 
p.  14- 

tBarnard's  Journal  of  Education.  Vol.  I,  p.  587,  has  a  lull  report  of  the  meeting. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS.  27 

Mr.  Brooks  wanted  him  and  induced  him  to  come. 
Adams,  "  the  old  man  eloquent,"  was  then  deep  in  his 
contests  over  petitions  to  Congress. 

Mr.  Adams'  speech  shows  that  he  had  learned  much 
at  the  convention.  Among  other  points  he  made  was 
this:  "  We  see  monarchs  expending  vast  sums  in  edu- 
cating the  children  of  their  poorest  subjects,  and  shall 
we  be  outdone  by  kings  ? " 

Daniel  Webster,  the  old  reporter  said,  "  addressed  the 
assembly  for  half  an  hour  in  his  usual  style  of  eloquence." 
One  of  his  statements  must  be  noted :  "  Teachers  should 
teach  things.  It  is  a  reproach  that  the  public  schools 
are  not  superior  to  the  private.  If  I  had  as  many  sons 
as  old  Priam,  I  would  send  them  all  to  the  public  schools." 

With  such  speakers  and  with  the  changes  rung  on 
the  old  theme  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  the  Old  Colony, 
it  is  evident  that  any  action  a  convention  with  such  feat- 
ures might  take,  would  carry  weight.  The  demand  was 
that  a  normal  school  be  located  in  Plymouth  County. 
One  was  eventually  established  at  Bridgewater,  but  in- 
stead of  being  the  first,  it  was  the  third.  With  this  con- 
vention, Mr.  Brooks'  immediate  labors  ceased. 

About  this  time  his  name  was  suggested  for  the  pro- 
fessorship of  natural  history  in  the  University  of  the 
City  of  New  York.  His  briUiant  work  in  aid  of  the 
educational  cause  was  well  known,  and  that  alone  should 
have  secured  him  the  appointment,  but  in  addition,  he 
had  the  endorsement  of  four  such  men  as  Jared  Sparks, 
Edward  Everett,  Josiah  Quincy  and  John  Quincy  Adams. 
On  receiving  the  appointment,  he  prepared  to  close  his 
labors  in  Hingham,  and  the  pastorate  was  terminated 
January  i,  1839,  after  eighteen  years  of  service. 

If  this  paper  were  to  end  with  this  incident,  the  point 
made  some  time  ago  would  be  emphasized ;  namely,  Mr. 
Brooks'  work  had  a  definite  beginning  and  a  definite 
ending.  Possibly  your  interest,  however,  may  be  suffi- 
cient to  cause  you  to  ask  as  to  his  later  life.  On  receiv- 
ing the  appointment  to  this  post,  for  which  he  had  had 


28     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL    SCHOOLS. 

no  special  training,  he  entered  upon  a  preparation.  As 
the  best  place  for  study  of  the  subject  was  Paris,  he  went 
abroad  September,  1839,  and  there  remained  four  years. 
I  have  not  learned  whether  on  his  return,  in  1843,  ^^^  ^^" 
tered  actively  upon  the  duties  of  his  position.  If  he  did, 
it  was  for  but  a  short  time,  for  through  failing  eyesight, 
he  was  compelled  to  resign.  One  result  of  this  foreign 
study  was  the  compilation  of  a  text-book  entitled  "  Ele- 
ments of  Ornithology,"  a  copy  of  which  he  gave  to  the 
library  at  Harvard  University. 

Two  years  later,  that  is,  1845,  we  find  him  on  the 
Boston  school  committee,  and,  as  usual,  active  in  the 
work.  In  1848,  still  carrying  out  his  old  desire  to  do 
something  concerning  a  cause  which  aroused  sympathy, 
he  instituted  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Aged  and 
Destitute  Clergymen,  of  which  he,  wdth  Francis  Park- 
man  and  Ephraim  Peabody,  were  the  incorporators,  in 
1850.  That  society  now  has  funds  of  nearly  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  and  is  aiding  twenty  beneficiaries 
in  sums  varying  from  one  to  five  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  The  name  has  lately  been  changed  from  that 
given  by  Brooks,  and  is  now  the  Society  for  Ministerial 
Relief. 

In  1853,  he  printed  a  small  slip  on  colored  paper,  an- 
nouncing the  preparation  of  a  History  of  Medford,  which 
was  pubHshed  two  years  later,  in  1855.  The  press  com- 
ments are  preserved  in  the  scrap  book.  At  the  same 
time,  his  attention  was  directed  to  what  was  probably  a 
new  subject  of  study,  "  The  Evil  Results  following  the 
Marriage  of  Near  Blood  Relatives.  With  his  thorough- 
ness, he  gathered  many  instances,  and  published  and 
spoke.  The  scrap  book  contains  an  interesting  account 
of  an  address  by  him  in  Providence,  in  1855.  The  re- 
porter was  a  trifle  facetious,  and  this  facetiousness  did 
not  tend  to  lessen  the  attacks  made  on  Brooks  through 
the  columns  of  a  paper  printed  in  one  of  the  localities 
mentioned.  Here  is  what  the  reporter  made  Mr.  Brooks 
say:  — 


CHARLES   BROOKS  (1795-1872). 

Photographed  by  Whipple,  Boston,  1861. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS,  29 

*'  Inhabitants  of  the  Bahamas  haven't  much  brains  and  are 
homely  as  sin.  Reason,  they  intermarry.  At  Martha's  Vineyard, 
they  have  a  particularly  bad  time.  The  island  is  sea  girt.  The 
youths  cannot  go  courting  elsewhere  because  of  the  rolling  billows, 
and  so  they  content  themselves  with  Marthas  in  the  Vineyard. 
The  island  is  in  consequence,  according  to  our  author,  full  of  illus- 
trations. Their  minds,"  says  Mr.  Brooks,  mildly,  "are  moderate. 
Their  health  is  feeble." 

From  this  time  on  he  was  frequently  called  upon  for 
addresses  on  education,  and  he  apparently  still  retained 
his  power  to  attract  and  charm  his  audiences.  It  was 
his  custom,  when  addressing  schools,  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren what  he  called  his  formula.  Some  of  those  who  in 
childhood  were  taught  it,  have  asked  that  it  be  preserved. 

*'  Children  should  be  taught  in  school  what  they  will  most  need 
in  the  world."     So  say  the  Prussians.     Therefore  learn 

1 .  To  live  religiously. 

2.  To  think  comprehensively. 

3.  To  reckon  mathematically. 

4.  To  converse  elegantly. 

5.  To  write  grammatically. 

The  last  great  work,  or  perhaps  I  had  better  say,  the 
last  of  his  special  labors  calling  for  his  activity,  was  in 
the  line  of  his  work  of  thirty  years  previous.  He  worked 
very  hard  on  behalf  of  a  National  Board  of  Education. 
By  this  time  he  was  seventy  years  of  age,  but  yet  he 
wrote  for  the  press,  spoke  in  public,  corresponded  with 
members  of  Congress,  and  made  journeys  to  Washington 
in  advocacy  of  the  cause.  Letters  have  been  found 
from  Sumner,  Banks,  Boutwell,  Garfield,  Winthrop,  and 
others,  all  of  which  show  that  he  put  his  case  in  such  a 
way  as  to  receive  attention.  The  measure  as  passed  by 
Congress  shows  that  a  National  Board  of  Education  was 
established  along  the  same  lines  that  he  urged  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  to  adopt  thirty  years  before ;  namely, 
education  is  a  matter  of  national  concern.  After  this, 
he  seems  to  have  lived  in  retirement  and  an  honored 
old  age.  He  died  at  Medford,  July  7,  1872,  nearly 
seventy-seven  years  of  age,  leaving  one  son  who  died 
unmarried,  in   1885. 


30     CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

It  is  doubtful  if  again  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  pre- 
pare a  paper  on  the  work  of  Charles  Brooks  for  Normal 
Schools.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  I  should  submit  to 
you  at  this  time  what  is  the  conclusion  of  my  delving  as 
an  "educational  antiquary,"  a  personification  of  Mr. 
Brooks'  fancy  of  sixty  years  ago. 

There  are  three  men  who  will  stand  out  above  others 
in  the  history  of  that  time:  Carter,  who  showed  the 
need ;  Brooks,  who  offered  the  remedy  and  aroused 
public  attention  so  that  the  law  was  established,  and 
Horace  Mann,  who  put  the  law  into  practice. 

At  the  Framingham  meeting  in  July,  1864,  one  of  the 
orators  prepared  an  historical  sketch  of  the  labors  of  the 
men  of  the  fourth  decade  of  the  century,  and  described 
what  each  had  done.     Of  Brooks,  he  said :  — 

*' To  Charles  Brooks,  whose  labors  in  the  years  1835-6-7  were 
second  to  those  of  no  man — one  might  also  say  to  no  number  of 
men  —  we  owe  the  particular  form  which  normal  schools  took, 
and  he  did  very  much  toward  preparing  the  public  mind  to  look 
with  favor  on  the  new  system.  From  his  friend,  Victor  Cousin, 
the  first  scholar  of  France,  he  obtained  reports  and  documents,  and 
encouraging  words  which  were  to  him  the  pabulum  vitae;  for  in 
this  phase  of  the  enterprise  he  stood  almost,  if  not  quite  alone ;  yet 
planting  his  feet  literally  on  Plymouth  Rock,  he  was  conscious  of 
strength.* 

Brooks  waived  for  himself  all  claim  to  originating  any 
policy.  He  found  the  Prussian  system,  urged  its  adop- 
tion, and  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  made  it 
a  law.  For  over  ten  years,  James  Carter  had  been  work- 
ing, but  had  made  little  progress.  His  field  was  among 
educators  in  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  and 
later  in  the  Legislature,  where  he  did  grand  work.  But 
the  people  had  not  been  aroused,  and  in  this  particular 
and  important  field  Brooks  labored. 

To  his  audiences  Brooks  was  a  man  of  attractive 
presence,  a  cultured  gentleman,  thoroughly  unselfish, 
plainly  influenced  by  a  desire  to  benefit  children,  rein- 
forcing his  arguments  with  appeals  to  his  hearers'  patri- 

*Barnard's  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  XVII,  p.  664.    Historical  Sketch  by  Rev.  Eben  S.  Stearns. 


CHARLES  BROOKS  AND  NORMAL    SCHOOLS,  31 

otism  and  Christianity.  Could  there  be  any  other  effect 
than  that  the  hearers  should  carry  away  pleasing  remem- 
brances of  the  speaker  and  the  cause  ? 

To  those  who  were  brought  into  closer  contact  in  the 
discussion,  whether  public  or  private,  that  was  sure  to 
follow  his  address,  he  showed  himself  a  man  of  tact, 
energy,  enthusiasm,  and  of  unwavering  faith  that  what 
had  succeeded  elsewhere  would  succeed  here.  And  so 
he  went,  hither  and  yon,  making  friends  for  himself  and 
friends  for  the  cause,  and  the  result  was  shown  when  the 
matter  came  before  the  Legislature ;  and  Carter,  then  a 
member,  found  his  years  of  pleading  strengthened  with 
the  support  of  legislators  who  were  responsive  to  the 
wishes  of  their  constituents.  Brooks'  friends. 

Mann  took  up  the  work  where  Brooks  laid  it  down, 
and  to  him  fell  the  application  of  the  remedy  Brooks 
had  shown,  and  with  this  application  went  also  the  an- 
tagonism, yes,  the  contumely  of  those  to  whom  the 
advance  in  education  brought  discomfort.  Mann's  work 
is  recorded  in  detail  in  many  places.  Let  there  be  also 
recorded  the  work  of  the  man  who  brought  the  support 
of  the  public ;  the  high-minded,  the  self-sacrificing  man 
of  charming  personality  —  Charles  Brooks. 


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